Quetta -  Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif Saturday said he was ousted from power through a court decision when his detractors failed to impose “minus-one” formula by other means.

Addressing a huge gathering at Ayub Stadium, he said he had been ousted not for committing corruption but for not taking salary from his son’s company.

“Was Nawaz Sharif ousted because he did not stay sadiq and ameen after not receiving salary from his son’s company?” he asked, amidst chants of “shame!”

“The people of Balochistan have rejected the verdict of the judges who took oath from a dictator under Provisional Constitutional Order (PCO),” averred Nawaz Sharif.

“How they could minus me [from the political scene] when masses keep making me plus,” the PML-N president mockingly asked his enemies.

“I am being revenged on the pretext of accountability, though no corruption charge has proved against me during the four years of my tenure [as prime minister],” he lamented, adding that it was a disrespect to the sanctity of billions of votes his party had secured in the general elections.

“These slogans of ‘shame, shame’ by you [attendants] convey a clear message that people have not accepted this decision [of disqualification] against me.” He added that before this, people of Abbottabad had ruled in his favour [at a public meeting].

The Quetta gathering was arranged Pashtoonkhwa Mili Awami Party (PkMAP) in connection with the 44th death anniversary of Khan Shaheed Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai.

PkMAP chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri, Senator Pervaiz Rashid, Senator Asif Kirmani and lawmakers of the central and provincial assemblies of PkMAP and PML-N were also present at the stage.

Nawaz Sharif paid glowing tribute to Abdul Samad Achakzai for his services. “I am grateful to Mehmood Achakzai for inviting me on the death anniversary of Khan Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai as he was a prominent leader of the Subcontinent,” he said.

Nawaz noted that Abdul Samad had spent 24 years of his life in different jails, suffered penalties for his cause but never compromised over principles and even sacrificed his life for his ideology.

He said they desire prosperity and progress of both Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Nawaz Sharif while recounting the development schemes in Balochistan said that the development and progress taking place for last four years in the province had no precedence in history.

No roads or motorways were being constructed in Balochistan earlier, he said. Remember the appalling situation of the province before 2013 general elections when there were no signs of development, he added.

“The road between Gwadar to Quetta has been constructed reducing 24 hours journey to half of that time,” he claimed. Work on Quetta-Dera Ismail Khan motorway was also underway and would get finalise soon, reducing travel between Quetta and Islamabad to eight hours, he added.

Nawaz Sharif maintained that Pakistan was witnessing 20 hours loadshedding when they assumed power in 2013. Factories had ceased working, tube wells of cultivators made dysfunctional and every sector was out of order, but no one asked from the responsible that who had pushed Pakistan into darkness and never made them accountable, he went on to say.

The PML-N chief flayed PTI Chairman Imran Khan for his motto of change under which, he said, Imran had devastated Peshawar.

Without taking his name, he said the cricketer [Imran] had criticised Lahore Metro Bus project and dubbed it as ‘jungla bus’ but now he wanted to launch that sort of project in Peshawar but he would never do it.

Achakzai speech

PkMAP Chairman Mehmood Khan Achakzai in his address reiterated his support for Nawaz Sharif saying they were doing so for a democratic Pakistan in which the power of drafting foreign and interior policies would rest with the parliament and every state institution would work within its constitutional limits.

He said people were criticising them for inviting Nawaz to Quetta but they should remember that “we had welcomed him with black flags [in the past]”. But, now he has come out for the supremacy of parliament and rule of law in country; therefore, PkMAP is backing him.

“We will unconditionally back everyone if Pakistan is made a democratic country in the true sense of the word, people are made supreme, rights of different nations are accepted as per the constitution and rule of law is established,” he averred.

Achakzai added that making Nawaz Sharif accountable and sparing others would not be right and this could push the country towards civil war.

“Corruption is a lethal disease for country, no doubt,” he said, adding that people from all sectors, including politics, military, judiciary and media, were indulging in this heinous practice. He demanded a national conference to ponder ways to overhaul the system and save the country from this menace.

Achakzai paid rich tribute to Abdul Samad Khan Achakzai for his unmatchable services during the British and post-partition eras. “Khan Shaheed remained out of jail for only two years during the period from 1947 to 1968,” he said.

 

 

Ousted ‘thru court’ when minus-one failed by other means